Meadow gardens are trending.
If you’ve ever visited a meadow garden, you’ll know why.
Landscape designers and garden enthusiasts have figured out how to replicate that stunning natural meadow look in a garden setting – using a combination of native grasses, flowering shrubs, and wildflowers.
The grasses featured in this post are execptionally low maintenance. You can also use these native meadow grasses to attract wildlife and boost the biodiversity of your garden.
So if you want a stunning garden thriving with pollinators and songbirds, keep reading.
Bonus – native grasses can also improve soil health, prevent erosion and protect against pests and diseases.
Cool Season vs Warm Season
When designing your meadow garden, there are two types of meadow grasses – cool season and warm season. Soil temperatures are essential to note for your meadow grasses to survive.
Cool-season grasses thrive between temperatures of 50 and 80 degrees, which in the northern half of the United States is usually during the spring, end of summer, and late fall. When temperatures rise in peak summer, these grasses may go into dormancy. Still, they can lush up again when the temperature cools.
Warm-season grasses are better suited for warmer climates and thrive during the summer when temperatures are between 80 and 95 degrees. These grasses thrive in the southern United States, where it is a hot temperature range. However, many southern states get cool enough in the winter that these grasses may go dormant or brown.
What are the Meadow Grass Types?
Plains oval sedge (Carex brevior)
This sedge is versatile and native to Southern Canadian provinces and most of the United States. These sedges are adaptable to prairies and wetlands, well-drained or upland sites.
Cool Season
Full sun to part shade
USDA Zone 3-8.
Uses: prairies, meadow landscapes and rain gardens.
Low maintenance
Deer resistance
Water smart
Restoration
Attracts Wildlife
Erosion control
Rain garden
Ground cover
12″ height/ 12″ wide
Ivory sedge (Carex eburnea)
Also called bristle-lead sedge, this sedge is native from Newfoundland, Canada, to Alaska, south to Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas. These sedges grow in drier sandy soils, with soft, thread-like up to 12″ tall and wide.
Cool Season
Part shade to full shade
USDA Zone 2-8
Uses: rock gardens, accent edges for smaller landscapes, meadow design.
Low maintenance
Deer Resistant
Ground cover
Naturalization
Heavy shade
12″ height/ 12″ wide
Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica)
Also known as oak sedge, this sedge is very common in meadow landscapes as it is adaptable to average, dry to medium, well-drained soils. In addition, these sedges are shade-loving native to thickets and dry woodland areas in Eastern and Central North America from Quebec to Manitoba to Mississippi and Georgia.
Cool Season Grass
Part shade to full shade
USDA Zone 3 to 8
Uses: groundcover, underplanting for shade perennials, lawn substitute for dry soils. It pairs well with butterfly weed.
Low maintenance
Ground cover
Naturalization
Rain Garden
12″ height/ 12″ wide
Curly Wood Sedge (Carex rosea)
Curly wood sedge is a semi-evergreen grass that grows well in wet to dry soils. This sedge is native to eastern North America, from Nova Scotia to Florida and west to Manitoba to Texas. It occurs in shade to partly shaded woodlands, edges, stream banks, and rich ravines.
Cool Season
Full sun to partial shade
USDA Zones 4 to 8.
Uses: Lawn substitute, ground cover, shade garden, meadow design, massing with spring wildflowers, erosion control, accent planting, layering with larger plant species.
Low Maintenance
Drought Tolerant
Cold Season Interest
Erosion Control
Deer Resistant Plantings
Prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis)
Prairie Dropseed is a classic full-sun grass for your garden. These true meadow grasses flower tints of pink and brown in the late summer and have a subtle fragrance. It’s native from Quebec to Saskatchewan, south to Colorado, Texas and Connecticut. These grasses are great structural plants growing two to three feet.
Pro Tip: Piet Oudolf uses the Sporobolus heterolepis ‘Tara’ cultivar in the renowned Lurie Garden in Chicago’s Millenium Park.
Warm Season Meadow Grasses
Full Sun
USDA Zone 3 to 8.
Uses: Groundcover for hot and dry areas, naturalized landscape, rain gardens, slopes, foundation planting, borders, and meadow design. It pairs well with plant species Butterfly Weed and Big Bluestem.
Low Maintenance
Attracts Butterflies
Cold Season Interest
Showy/ Fragrant
Water Smart
Deer Tolerant
Erosion Control
Height 2-3’/ 2-3′ wide
Sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula)
Sideoats grama is an adaptable full-sun grass that grows in average, dry and medium soils, from well-drained sandy soils to heavy clays. Typically this plant species grows in glades, prairies, open rocky woodlands and along railroad tracks throughout most of the United States.
Warm Season
Full Sun
USDA Zones 4 to 9.
Uses: Massing, slopes, rock gardens, naturalized landscape, layering with larger plants and meadow design.
Low Maintenance
Showy Flowers
Attracts Birds
Water Smart
Erosion Control
Height 2.5’/2′ wide
Purple lovegrass (Eragrostis pectinacea)
Purple lovegrass is a native grass from Maine to South Dakota to Florida, Texas, Arizona, and Mexico. These grasses prefer sandy or gravelly loams in hot, dry locations.
Warm Season Meadow Grasses
Full Sun
USDA Zones 5 to 9.
Uses: massing, borders, naturalization, meadow design, and great for dried flower arrangements.
Low Maintenance
Showy Flowers
Water Smart
June grass (Koeleria macrantha)
June grass is a full-sun grass native throughout most of the United States except for the Southeast and parts of the Northeast. These grasses prefer to grow in dry to medium, well-drained soils and thrive in rocky or gritty soils.
Cool Season
Full Sun
USDA Zones 3 to 9
Uses: meadow design, massing, naturalization, great mixed with other ornamental meadow grasses.
Low Maintenance
Showy Summer Flowers
Water Smart
Dry Soil
Height 2’/1.5′ wide
Northern sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium)
Northern sea oats, also known as river oats, are adaptable grass that easily grows in average, medium to wet, well-drained soils. These grasses can grow in full sun to part shade. It is native to the Eastern United States and Northern Mexico. Flowers bloom in late spring.
Cool Season
Full Sun to Part Shade
USDA Zones 3 to 8
Uses: Border garden, contrast and texture, shade garden, naturalization and meadow design.
Low Maintenance
Showy Flowers/ Cut Dried Flowers
Cold Season Interest
Height 2-5’/ 1’-2.5’ wide
Bottlebrush grass (Elymus hystrix)
Bottlebrush grass is a native grass found in dry woodland areas throughout the eastern-central United States. It works well as grass when planted in mass. These grasses prefer average, dry to medium, well-drained soils that can grow from full sun to part shade.
Cool Season
Full Sun to Part Shade
USDA Zones 5 to 9
Uses: Mass or naturalization in a dappled woodland setting, naturalization, clumping.
Low Maintenance
Showy Flowers
Water Smart
Attracts Birds
Shade Tolerant
Height 2.5’-3’/ Spread 1’-1.5’
Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)
Another full-sun grass, little bluestem, grows in average, dry to medium moisture, well-drained soils. Native to the prairies, fields, hills, limestone glades, roadsides, waster areas and open woods from Alberta to Quebec to Arizona and Florida. It pairs well with Big Bluestem.
Warm Season
Full Sun
USDA Zones 3 to 9
Uses: Ornamental native grasses, borders, rock or rain gardens, meadow design, wildflowers and naturalized settings.
Low Maintenance
Cold Season Interest
Water Smart
Deer Tolerant
Dry Soil
Shallow-Rocky Soil
Height 2’-4’/ Spread 1.5’-2’
Virginia wild rye (Elymus virginicus)
Virginia wild rye is a great native meadow grass across southern Canada from Newfoundland to British Columbia and the eastern central United States from Main to Florida west to North Dakota, Wyoming, Kansas and Arizona. Virginia wild rye is excellent for erosion control on the hillsides and along stream banks. This grass grows best in moist, well-drained loams in full sun to part shade.
Cool Season
Full sun to part shade
USDA Zones 3 to 8
Uses: meadow design, large naturalized landscape, erosion control on slopes, hillsides, streambanks, and rain gardens.
Low Maintenance
Attracts Butterflies
Deer Resistant
Erosion Control
Height 2-4’/ Spread 1-2′
Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)
Switchgrass is a staple meadow grass that grows in full sun to part shade. It’s adaptable in average, medium to wet soils, yet can tolerate dry ones too. It will grow in part shade but generally prefers full sun. This clump-forming grass exists in dry prairie soils, open woods, streambanks, and railroad tracks. It’s native to North America. The seed heads give a lacey/feathery effect.
Pro Tip: Choose Panicum Virgatum cultivar to add red/ purplish colour to your meadow garden in the fall.
Warm Season Grass
Full sun to part shade
USDA Zones 5 to 9
Uses: Massing, accent meadow grasses, screening, perennial borders, mixing with wildflowers, naturalization, rain gardens, ponds. It is often included in meadow mix seed packets.
Low Maintenance
Summer Flowers
Show Flowers, Good Dried
Visual Interest in Winter Months
Water Smart
Erosion Control
Dry Conditions
Height 3-6′, Spread 2’-3′
Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans)
Indian grass is a full-sun meadow grass tolerant to a wide range of soils, including heavy clay. It’s resilient and does well in poor, dry, infertile soils. However, it grows best in average, dry to medium, well-drained soils. Indian grass is one of the dominant meadow grasses of the tallgrass prairies that once covered large parts of the Midwest. These meadow grasses can grow up to 6 inches tall. It’s native to the eastern and central United States.
Warm Season
USDA Zones 4 to 9
Full Sun
Uses: meadow design, naturalized landscapes, borders, vertical accent, structural matrix planting, along slopes.
Medium Maintenance
Attracts Birds
Visual Interest in Winter Months
Water Smart
Erosion Control
Shallow-Rocky soil
Height 3-5’/ spread 1-2′
Blue grama grass (Bouteloua gracilis)
Blue grama is a grass native to the prairies, plains and open rocky woodlands along railroad tracks throughout the Western United States. It tolerates a wide range of soils, but not wet ones. Great drought-resistant grass needs well-drained soil in full sun.
Warm Season Grass
Full-sun
USDA Zones 3 to 10
Uses: Dried flowers are great for spring flower arrangements, naturalized landscape design, rock gardens, meadow design, and drought-tolerant landscaping. It can be grown as turf grass.
Low Maintenance
Show Flowers, Great for Dried Flower Arrangements
Attract Birds
Water Smart
Erosion Control
Shallow-Rocky Soil
Big bluestem (Andropogon Gerardi)
Big Bluestem is also stable to the tall grass prairies of the Midwest, native from Canada to Mexico. It is a full-sun perennial meadow grass that grows well in average, dry to medium, well-drained soils. This meadow grass can tolerate a wide range of soils and growing conditions. However, it is less suitable in dry, infertile soils. Big Bluestem is an excellent structural plant for matrix planting.
Warm Season Grass
Full Sun
USDA Zones 4 to 9
Uses: Massed in wildflower meadows, naturalized landscaping, meadow design, borders, accent or screening, erosion control, and often included in meadow mix seed packets.
Low Maintenance
Winter Interest
Water Smart
Deer Resistant
Erosion Control
Dry Conditions
Tufted Hair Grass (Deschampsia cespitosa 'Goldtau')
Tufted hair grass grows best in most to west soils. It is native in Canada and the United States from Nebraska to Iowa to Texas and Louisiana and absent in most Southern United States. This semi-evergreen survives native habitat along moist mountain meadows, wetlands, floodplain forests, and marshy grasslands. Tufted hair grass projects tall golden seed heads producing a fuzzy and textural appearance in late summer and fall landscapes.
Cool Season
Full Sun to Part Shade
USDA Zones 3 to 8
Uses: Accent, massing, Erosion control, border, rain or rock gardens, shade landscapes and meadow design.
Low Maintenance
Attracts Songbirds
Summer Flowers
Drought Tolerant
Lawn Replacement
Dried Flowers
